Various Direct Links

06 May 2012

FollowUp 28: Wisconsin Republican Dirty Tricks

A letter from Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker:

Dear Conservative,

Obviously, he doesn't know to whom he is writing.

As the duly elected Governor of Wisconsin I have been steadfast in my
beliefs that limited government and fiscal responsibility should be the
cornerstone of putting my state back on the road to prosperity.

Mr. Walker was "duly elected" and he may really believe that he has been working toward "limited government and fiscal responsibility". His actions indicate otherwise.

I am facing a recall by the big-government public employee unions and their minions
who are threatened by the voters actually being in charge of where their tax dollars are being spent.

In November of 2010, the majority of Wisconsin voters resoundingly said
enough-is-enough to the status quo and put me in charge of a state that
had been beholden to big government special interests with a
tax-and-spend mentality that created a $3.6 billion deficit.

No. Former Governor Jim Doyle did not leave office with a huge debt. The debt was caused by huge tax breaks that happened under Governor Walker. I covered a few of the details in FollowUp 13 and FollowUp 25.

In less than a year we were able to eliminate this deficit and provide the freedom of choice for public employees
. Our reforms are allowing them to decide if they would like to
spend more than a thousand dollars a year in union dues or keep their
money. We put a stop to the unions’ railroading of the taxpayers'
hard-earned dollars.

See my links, just above, to look at the redistribution of wealth in Wisconsin under Governor Walker. Unions were not "railroading" tax dollars. That is absurd. I covered a great deal of what really happened, including the courts overturning part of Mr. Walker's attacks on unions, in FollowUp 19.

What we need now is your help in telling the unions we do not want
another tax-and-spend liberal at the reins of power in Wisconsin.
You can do this by contributing $20, $50, $100, or whatever you can afford by clicking here
.

Sorry, I have disabled that link. Mr. Walker seems to be getting plenty of money from out of state without my helping him.

I have been a man of my word to the voters of this state and have always
led by putting the interests of Wisconsin taxpayers first.

No. Mr. Walker is a liar. He has put corporations first, not taxpayers.

Since taking office,
I have eliminated a bureaucratic and bloated budget mess
left by the previous administration without raising taxes or laying off
state workers
. Thousands of Wisconsinites are back on the job, and statewide
property taxes have decreased for the first time in years.
Stand with me today with a generous contribution of $20, $50, $100, or whatever you can afford
.

It looks like Wisconsin is doing slightly better than Illinois and Michigan and not as well as Iowa and Minnesota. Wisconsin is not doing horribly, but Mr. Walker's brag seems a bit shallow.

The people of Wisconsin deserve to see the bold and courageous choices I have made come to fruition.
It is time to stop these out-of-state special interests
in their tracks and let them know that our conservative values will not
be taken lightly
.

The choices made by Mr. Walker were certainly bold. In fact, they had little to do with his campaign promises. The out of state special interests are favoring Mr. Walker, not opposing him. He has the biggest money. Two days ago, Time Magazine did a story on Mr. Walker's fundraising windfall. "Since mid-January, Walker’s campaign has raked in more than $13 million,
according to financial disclosure statements released this week. During
that time, two-thirds of his cash came from outside the Badger State."

With your help, I will be the first Governor of Wisconsin elected twice in my first term.

Thank you for your support,

Scott Walker
Governor

Too many lies. It is my hope that Wisconsin's Democrats come together after the primary on Tuesday and turn out their voters in June.